Uttarakhand Forest Statistics 2012-13
The forest department of Uttarakhand has 13 circles, 44 divisions, 284 ranges and 1569 beat..The human population of the State is 101.167 lacs (2011) compared to 25.18 lacs in 1951 and that of livestock is 76.16 lacs in 2007 as compared to 41.68 lacs (1993) and 38.692 in 1972. The human and livestock population is largely dependent on forests due to Agrarian economy and age old pastoralism leading to heavy pressure on forests and consequent degradation of ecology and environment of the area. Although the State of Uttarakhand is well endowed with biological resources, the past decades have seen an increase in pressure on the state’s natural ecosystems. The entire Shiwalik ecosystem of Uttarakhand has been virtually degraded of its forest cover, and forested landscape has been pushed to the Upper reaches of the State. There are four major river systems viz. Ganga, Yamuna, Ramganga & Sharda originating from the state along with their tributaries which are major source of water for drinking, irrigation and hydropower. The major wealth of the state is its forests with very rich biodiversity. The state ranks sixth among the other states in terms of percentage of recorded forest area.